


Devotion

by Palefire73



Series: Prisoners. The Chronicles of Loki and Erika [21]
Category: Loki - Fandom, Original Female Character - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Imprisonment, Loki in prison, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-04 08:10:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18339638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Palefire73/pseuds/Palefire73
Summary: So they shared a very public kiss. How has that made them feel?Erika wrestles with the knowledge that all of this is happening to them in a false environment and Loki experiences a side that was supposed to have been buried deep within him...





	Devotion

The journey back to the small holding from the house where the pre-wedding celebrations were taking place was one during which Loki and Erika felt as though they were in a strange kind of limbo. They were being driven back in a carriage owned by Sara’s parents and, as the vehicle swayed and bounced along the wide dirt road, Erika huddled against Loki while he placed his arm around her affectionately. It was quite cold and they were sharing a travelling blanket woven from warm wool, which fended off most of the chill, and the young maid snuggled against Loki’s chest as the late hour and the warm alcohol she had consumed began to take their toll. As she drifted in and out of sleep, her relaxed mind kept taking her back to that sweet kiss she had shared with him back at the house, and a delicious sensation crept through her, making her feel safe and content.

 

The weather had turned rather inclement while the party had gone on, and Loki could not see the stars tonight. He peered out of the window of the carriage non-the-less, watching the mist-shrouded trees passing by along with the odd dim light from a window of a farmhouse here and there. He thought about the woman he was holding and how she had appeared in that doorway earlier on, and he smiled to himself. It should be Sara who looked the prettiest at the wedding celebration and it should be her that all eyes were upon, but he knew deep within his heart that it would be Erika who had his attention tomorrow. Once the other party guests had finished making appreciative noises and clapping at Erika’s bold move of kissing him back at the party, they had sat together and had enjoyed the food, the music and the happy conversation, but after a while they had wandered out to the garden to sit with a few other people round a large fire pit and they had spent a good hour just talking together. It had been, perhaps, a long-overdue conversation and there were a few things they spoke of which seemed to bring them closer together. Although Erika still found it difficult to avoid bringing up anything about the bad things they had experienced back in the real Asgard, enough was said by each of them to bring them to a point where a few niggles and worries were completely banished from between them.

 

As the Trickster watched the inviting lanterns at the entrance to the small drive of their property appear, a new feeling infected him: one where this now truly felt like home. It had always felt that way to a certain extent, but Erika had asked questions to which his answers seemed to have erased any last lingering doubt about being here, and now Loki felt that they really were both home. He frowned at the damp and cold weather outside the carriage window and decided that, if it was no better in the morning, he would have to do something about it so that Hans and Sara’s wedding day would not be spoiled; although he did not use it too much, he had a fair level of Seidr and getting rid of a few rain clouds was not outside his capabilities.

 

The carriage came to a halt as the driver pulled up on the reins of his horses, and Loki felt Erika move,

 

“Oh… are we here?” She asked in a sleepy voice.

“Yes we are,” replied Loki and he took her hand as the driver opened the door of the carriage, “Come along, let us get you to bed. We have a long day tomorrow.” He helped her down from the carriage and thanked the driver before taking Erika’s arm and walking with her to the house. Once inside, he did not give her a chance to look around and spot anything that needed to be sorted out, instead leading her straight to the stairs and ushering her up them.

“Bedtime, Erika. No argument!” They stopped outside her bedroom door and The Trickster looked down at her lovingly, stroking her cheek and smoothing her hair. “You looked absolutely beautiful tonight, Erika. I was honoured to be there by your side, as your friend. I erm, I hope that, with time, perhaps we can become more than friends?”

“Loki…” Erika took hold of the hand caressing her face and kissed the palm before snaking her arms up to pull him towards her, “we are already more than friends. We were back in the city and if we just relax and allow things to take their natural course, we will be again.” They kissed, then, slowly and sweetly, before Erika drew away and smiled. “I love you, you know that, do you not? I love being here, despite how different it is to the city and it is just so nice to be around this new happier you!” She playfully brushed his nose with her knuckles and opened her door, “Now, I believe it is time for bed and we do have an awful lot to do tomorrow, so now… I bid you goodnight.”

“Goodnight…” Loki watched her go into her room and close her door, but found he did not want to go to his own room just yet. Instead, he went to sit in one of the large comfortable chairs in front of the window on the landing and looked out on the night. The stars were still shrouded with thick cloud and he impatiently raised his hand and made a sweeping gesture, whereupon it dispersed, leaving a clear view of the stars in the inky black backdrop of the night sky. He turned his blue eyes to look at the various constellations on view, noticing the difference to those he would have seen if he had been back at the Palace in the city. A slight niggle in the back of his mind caused him to frown; for some reason he seemed to think that the stars he would have seen in the city’s night sky were very important to him, but he could not quite recall why. He sighed, knowing that it was probably part of the extensive therapy he had undergone to get over the stresses his former life were supposed to have caused him, but a new emotion of slight annoyance lodged in his brain. The inability to remember this specific thing was irksome, he decided, but he knew it was probably not going to be the last time he would experience it. Leaning back into the sumptuous cushions of the chair, he allowed his eyes to wander across these new constellations and told himself that he would have to employ patience in these matters if he was to truly enjoy the new life he had been given.

 

Inevitably, his mind wandered back to the evening and how Erika had kissed him at the Wedding Eve celebrations. Deep-rooted feelings of desire rose in him and he found he could not get her image out of his mind, passing the tip of his tongue over his lips and wishing he could still taste her there. He was vaguely amused at the almost irrational petulance that he felt at the fact that she had decided to retire alone, indeed a feeling of entitlement to her affections was coming to the fore, and it was only as he stopped his knuckles rapping on her door that he took a surprised step back and wondered how he had got there.

 

What was going on in his mind? He had promised Erika faithfully that he would respect her wishes regarding their relationship and any deepening of their affections towards a desire to rekindle the physical side. So why had he blindly risen from the chair on the landing and come to her door to demand his rights?

 

Loki lowered his clenched fist and leaned forward to rest his forehead on Erika’s door as he took deep breaths to calm himself, ashamed of the feelings he held inside. What he could not know, because of the conditioning The Vision had carried out on his mind, was that he had just experienced the unconscious and automatic reaction that he would possibly have carried out to the full when he had been back in Asgard and in his previous state, with all the arrogance and cold-heartedness masking any ability to care about what he did and how it affected other people who stood in his way. It was a testament to the strength of the hypnotism that he simply laid a palm on the door longingly before turning away to go to sit back on the chair to stare out at the stars and wonder who they had been in a former life.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Erika waited to hear the faint footsteps retreat from her door before letting out the breath she held. In a similar fashion, she was clutching the thick covers of her bed to her breast, wondering if Loki was about to barge into her room. The sound of his heavy breathing from outside her door with its deep tones just moments after the harsh scraping of the feet of his chair had frightened her because it was reminiscent to how he had often sounded back in Asgard. She shrank into her pillows as she waited to see what would happen, wondering what she would do if the door opened, but after a few tense moments she heard him retreat and she managed to relax again. But then a new feeling of disappointment arose. It could only be due to the time they had spent at the pre-wedding celebrations and what had gone on there. Something about the festival atmosphere had allowed a situation in which they had, perhaps inadvertently, revealed what they truly felt and desired of each other and Erika knew the only thing holding her back was the knowledge that their relationship was developing into something which could be truly wonderful, but that it was also in a false environment. Bitterness marred her sense of hope and tears prickled as the unfairness of it all was brought home to her.

 

A faint click brought her out of her deepening mood and she realised that Loki had eventually retired to his own room. And that is where the night found them: two souls, inextricably linked, hopelessly in love and yet still worlds apart.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Go on!”

“Yes, throw it Sara. We are ready!”

“I cannot see where it will go…”

“That is the idea! Come on, the Midgardians do it and they swear it works. I wish to know if I am to be wed next!”

 

Listening to the excited voices of her friends from behind her, Sara threw Hans an incredulous look as he held her hand to steady her balance on the milking stool. “I shall fall if I try to throw it a great distance,” she giggled, gripping his hand even tighter, “I cannot see what I am doing!”

“Just hold on tight and fling it behind you Sara,” laughed Hans, “the ladies are all watching you avidly and there are a few of them who are itching to be the one who catches it!”

“But it is a beautiful bouquet and I am worried that it may break…”

“Oh, throw it, Sara!” Laughed Hans. He peered round his bride to look at the gathered guests who were eagerly anticipating this part of the celebrations and noticed one of his friends pulling on Erika’s hand to encourage her to join the ladies. She was giggling shyly and blushing, but she ended up standing with them, watching to see what happened next.

 

“Very well!”

 

A whoop of delight went up from the wedding guests as the bouquet left Sara’s hand and went sailing backwards in the general direction of the ladies who began to vie for a good position to catch it. A particularly tall brunette looked the favourite to win as she reached out and stretched her fingers wide to receive the beautiful flowers and thereby be proclaimed the next of the group of friends to be wed. However, much to her dismay, it simply caught the edge of her thumb and tumbled awkwardly over a few more hands that were not quite in the right place, only to fall into the palms of the one girl who had stood back from the rest: Erika. Her eyes widened in surprise as she watched the final descent of Sara’s bouquet, for she was quite sure it had not followed a normal trajectory. Agneta had been virtually guaranteed to catch it, but there must have been a very strong gust of wind in the otherwise still day, or perhaps the tall girl had slightly miscalculated its flight path, for it definitely took a bit of a zig-zag before landing unceremoniously in Erika’s hands. In the split second before the crowd erupted into a raucous bout of cheering and whooping, Erika glanced over at Loki, whose eyes very quickly averted from her and to the ground. _Had he had a hand in this?_

 

Before Erika could do or say anything, the men had quickly surrounded Loki and started to clap him on his back – rather presumptuous of his intentions towards Erika despite their public kiss the night before – and were now breaking into songs about acquiring innocent young ladies and bedding them. Erika, in turn, found herself the centre of attention from all the ladies, who were giggling and chatting excitedly about what catching the bouquet meant and how lucky she was. Sara arrived and removed her bridal crown, placing it on Erika’s head and weaving the ribbons into her hair, and suddenly Erika felt herself being swept along in their midst. She came to a sudden stop and the women drew back to reveal the male wedding guests, who were standing in a close group behind Loki, who was down on one knee with Han’s hand resting firmly on his shoulder.

 

Loki looked up to Erika as she was ushered forward by her friends, clutching the bouquet and wearing the bride’s crown and looking very flustered. _Now was the time_. Loki had spent hours the previous night thinking about this girl and although a lot of their history was lost to him because of the mind conditioning he had undergone, he could not deny the strength of his feelings for her. He had searched his very soul for any doubt as to what he wanted, and could find nothing to cause him any worries. He was not stupid; his age and experience of how people related to him had not been taken away with his memories of the bad times in Asgard. He knew from the way she acted towards him that she loved him deeply and after staring at the myriad constellations in the black midnight sky he had come to only one conclusion: he would not be complete without her. Of course he had caused the bouquet to fall into her hands, how could he miss such an opportunity? Before she could do or say anything he quickly reached up and took one of her hands in his own and placed three ribbons across her palm.

 

Her breath caught in her throat and her pulse suddenly started to rush in her ears as her face grew hot, and Erika found herself rooted to the spot as her handsome God began to weave the ribbons about her hand and his. She found herself mesmerised by those movements, made deftly by hands that had often been so cruel, but which were now only gentle as Loki bound their hands together. Only moments later he looked up from where the golden ribbons lay and fixed his gaze on Erika. His Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat as he swallowed nervously and she would swear he was fighting back tears as he said,

 

“I love you Erika. Will you be my wife?”

**Author's Note:**

> Hello my fellow Lokeans, Marvel fans, TWH fans et cetera!  
> I have struggled recently and the words seemed to have deserted me for a while. However, after a recent personal revelation as to where my heart truly belongs, the recipient seems to be allowing me the ability to tell my stories again.
> 
> I hope this finds you well!  
> Palefire73  
> x


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